Santa Margherita Ligure to Portofino.
Years ago there was a good Italian restaurant in Preston named Portofino, candle lit dinners serenaded by a guitarist who happened to be Spanish, but never mind. The name stuck with me and I had a hankering to visit this place. So this morning we get off the train in rather elegant Santa Margherita and walk across the promenade past a statue of Christopher Columbus. He was born in Genoa up the coast so I’m not sure of the significance of his statue here.
Santa Margherita.
It was raining as we set off into the hills –
– steep tracks through pine and chestnut trees eventually brought us out at a cafe next to an old mill. Here a welcome coffee and a drying out helped us on our way. The whole area was very green and luxuriant but there was a lot of damage from recent storms. Soon we were looking down on the natural harbour of Portofino.
Portofino has become the Italian playground of the rich and famous and was full of tourists. I didn’t venture into the jewellery and fashion boutiques, in fact I ate a sandwich on the castle promontory, there are some fabulous views of the harbour from up here. I then braved a coffee in the over priced Bar Pasticerria up the side street. They had photos of the visiting rich and famous from the past. 
We had a route march back along the coast to catch the train in Santa Margherita. Portofino – been there, seen it, couldn’t afford the T shirt.
There was an Italian restaurant in Barrow but I can’t remember the name of it. The Taj Mahal at the bottom of Dalton Road was more in my line.
Funny, this prices thing. We had a day out in Cannes a few years ago when we stayed in Nice. I was expecting it to be hugely expensive but the food, drinks, and goods in the shops were pretty ordinary prices. That’s probably why the harbour was full of Sir Philip Green-style yachts, come to think of it. Tight buggers.
Alen
That was pretty exotic for Barrow.
He’s probably still “sorting out” the bill.